This invention relates to hand-held applicators for liquid or pasty materials such as cosmetics, and particularly to applicators of the type having an applicator head carried at the free end of a stem which is secured at its other end to a cap for a container for the material to be applied, the cap serving as the handle for the applicator. Specifically, the invention is directed to such applicators wherein the head and associated stem are separable from the handle or cap to enable replacement of the head or selective use of different heads with the same cap.
The term "material" herein refers to materials that can be picked up by the applicator, as exemplified by substances which are themselves liquid or incorporate a liquid vehicle, e.g. liquid and pasty cosmetic substances such as mascara. In important embodiments, the invention is directed to applicators for liquid or pasty cosmetic materials, especially mascara or the like, to which detailed reference will be made herein for purposes of specific illustration.
A conventional cosmetics dispenser includes a container with an externally threaded neck for receiving an internally threaded container cap. A stem, carrying an applicator head such as a brush, projects from the interior of the cap, which is used as the applicator handle or holder to manipulate the brush or other applicator head. Typically, when the cap is seated on the neck, the applicator head is immersed in the cosmetic material (e.g. mascara) within the container. As the cap is removed from the container, the applicator shaft and head are withdrawn through the neck, transporting a quantity of the cosmetic material for immediate application to the user's face or (in the case of mascara) to the user's eyelashes. The container, though small enough to be carried in the user's pocket or handbag, holds sufficient cosmetic material for multiple applications, the applicator being reinserted in the container as needed to pick up additional material. After a particular applying operation is completed, the cap is retightened on the neck for storage during intervals between successive applications.
Conventionally, the brush or other applicator head is permanently mounted on the stem, which is in turn permanently attached at its proximal end to the cap. However, it would sometimes be desirable to employ replaceable or interchangeable applicator heads with a given cap. For example, mascara brushes are available in a variety of shapes and bristle contents, and different users may wish to use different brushes (or one user may wish to use different brushes at different times) with a particular mascara product. Since mascara dispenser caps are relatively expensive articles, decoratively finished or adorned to contribute to a distinctive overall aesthetic design of the dispenser, it would be advantageous from the standpoint of economy and convenience to enable ready interchange of brushes on one cap.
It is also frequent retail practice to offer shoppers an opportunity to make test applications of cosmetics such as mascara at the point of purchase. Use of the same brush or other applicator by plural customers presents a potential hygiene problem in that infections may be transmitted from user to the next; moreover, fear of such contamination may deter customers from testing cosmetics available for test application only with a common applicator. These concerns can be avoided by supplying an individual disposable or recyclable test applicator for each customer, but it would be costly to provide each disposable applicator with its own handle simulating the heft and feel of a conventional dispenser cap, as desired to render test application conditions as attractive and familiar as possible.
Cosmetic and like applicators heretofore available have not afforded satisfactory solutions to these problems. Some known material dispensers, as shown for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 571,367, 1,886,651 and 2,096,975, have container caps formed with a threaded or friction-fit socket for mounting a stem carrying a brush. However, insofar as the brushes of these devices may be inherently removable from their associated caps after use for replacement with another brush, such removal would involve grasping the used brush or its stem to unscrew or pull the stem from the socket, with resultant soiling of the hands by residual dispensed material on the brush or stem.
It is known, as well, to provide a single cosmetics dispenser with plural brushes and/or other heads each having its own handle or cap, as shown for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,886,080 and 4,972,858, thereby to afford the user a choice of heads of differing characteristics. Such arrangements, however, tend to increase the size of a dispenser (for a given quantity of contained cosmetic material), i.e. to accommodate the plural heads, and are limited as to the number of different heads available for the user's choice. In addition, the provision of a separate handle or cap for each brush adds to the cost of the dispenser.